1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to liquid dispense heads and manufacturing methods thereof, the liquid dispense heads being used, for example, for fabricating a microarray by dispensing a solution containing biomolecules such as proteins or nucleic acids onto a solid member.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, when various types of probe samples are to be dispensed on a microarray substrate, a contact-pin method or an ink-jet method has been widely used.
According to an ink-jet method, by decreasing pitches between nozzles, a high density microarray can be fabricated.
In addition, in a conventional liquid dispense device, in order to supply liquid from reservoirs independent from each other to respective nozzles, there have been disclosed a method for forming by a photolithographic technique a liquid feed plate integrated with a heater board functioning as a dispense energy generator, and a method for forming the aforementioned liquid feed plate by laminating a great number of alumina plates to each other.
In the aforementioned conventional liquid dispense device, since a great number of independent reservoirs and/or liquid flow passages communicating therewith are formed in a liquid feed plate by a photolithographic technique, the capacity and the number of the reservoirs have been disadvantageously limited.
In addition, since the heater board functioning as a dispense energy generator and the liquid feed plate are formed from a silicon substrate, and the flow passages penetrating in the thickness direction are formed using anisotropic etching, there has been a problem in that the nozzles can not be formed with a high density.
In addition, when the liquid feed plate is formed by laminating a great number of alumina plates to each other, a great number of plates having holes and grooves are laminated to each other. Then, tasks of machining the plates and laminating them with an adhesive are required, resulting in increase in manufacturing cost. In addition, there has been concern about the probability of reaction between the above adhesive and a dispense solution, that is, a solution containing biological polymer materials.